We visited a long list of great San Francisco shops with unique items, including Ruby, Stone Pony, Mira Mira and Gravel and Gold in the Mission, Noe Valley's Shoe Biz, Ambiance and Isso, as well as Pearl in the Inner Sunset.

Earlier this month, the folks at PAPER magazine and American Express asked us to head out on a shopping mission to local, independent boutiques we love in honor of Small Business Saturday. We were only too happy to oblige. After all, small businesses are a seriously big deal to us. Read on for the details on our adventure, get inspired to visit small bizzies on Saturday and enter our $100 giveaway from American Express.

As you know, and we know you know (and we know you know we know), small businesses make our city what it is and keep our lives full of new, unique things to do, see, eat, drink, buy and give as gifts. In that spirit, we dove into a few of our favorite shops in the Mission, Noe Valley and a few other hoods to uncover cool finds from the kinds of shops that lend San Francisco its local flavor.

If you shop on Small Business Saturday, register your American Express card online in advance, then use it on a purchase of $25 or more at a business that accepts American Express, and you’ll receive a $25 statement credit on your account.

These boots from Gravel and Gold are cooler looking than UGGS and made by an artisan in Bodega Bay. And would you believe it: they're machine washable.

How's this for stylish and local: these platform wedges are by Seal of the Sutro, the brand from the owners of the local Shoe Biz shops.

The polka dot shirt dress hanging on the racks is a best-seller at Mira Mira on 22nd.

Lots of local jewelry on display at Ruby, located in the Mission.

Vintage finds at relatively reasonable prices stood out at Stone Pony in the Mission.

Accessories and jewelry were on display in the window of Inner Sunset shop Pearl.

If you’re looking for places to visit on Small Business Saturday, check out PAPER‘s San Francisco City Guide. It’s packed with cool places to visit and additional deals you’ll score only on Saturday.

Need some extra cash to shop? Don’t we all…We’re giving away $100 in American Express gift cards in honor of Small Business Saturday. To enter: do one or more of the following (each counts as one entry):

- Sign up for our newsletter (box on right)

- Tweet us @sfindiefashion with the name of your favorite San Francisco small business

- Post on our Facebook wall with the name of your favorite San Francisco small business

- Comment on this post with the name of your favorite San Francisco small business

(Notice a theme? Smart people will employ the power of copy and paste). The winner will be chosen at random this week and notified via email, Facebook or Twitter, depending on how you enter.

***

This post sponsored by American Express, though all opinions expressed here are our own, of course! What does that mean? In the interest of full disclosure, we’re letting you know that American Express compensated us for this post with gift cards, but we did the legwork, took the pics and used it as a chance to showcase some of our favorite local small businesses. We love our sponsors and hope you will, too. They make it possible for us to keep bringing you San Francisco’s independent fashion news five days a week.